HSRC Research Hub#3 (Equitable Food Value Chains)

HSRC Connect | Working Together for Zero Hunger in South Africa: Towards Equitable and Ecological Food Futures

To mark World Food Day 2025, the HSRC Research Hub#3 (Equitable Food Value Chains) will host a Connect panel discussion on 8 October 2025. Our theme will focus on how different food value chains actors can work together to ensure food and nutrition for all, without harming the environment, through the ways in which society produces, trades, consumes and disposes of food.

Towards this end, we are bringing together panellists from government, civil society and academia to explore critical issues, such as:

• Promoting policy engagement and policy uptake by engaging and involving all food value chain actors for Zero Hunger in South Africa
• Generating empirical evidence about the state of multistakeholder engagements and cooperation across food value chains
• Sharing examples of successful cooperation among food value chain stakeholders in municipalities and provinces against the backdrop of the unequal spatial picture of household hunger
• Co-producing a vision of equitable, resilient and ecologically sustainable food futures and the unified actions required for its realisation in practice

The right to food in South Africa finds expression in Section 27 of its Constitution, in the National Development Plan (Vision 2030) and in the National Policy on Food and Nutrition Security (NPFNS). Despite these strong commitments to food and nutrition security, hunger and malnutrition persist due to structural inequality, poverty, fragmented and incoherent policies, and unsustainable food value chain practices. Achieving Zero Hunger (SDG 2) requires both equitable access and ecological approaches that build resilience against future shocks. The discussion will generate actionable recommendations and strengthen partnerships to advance inclusive, resilient, equitable and sustainable food systems in South Africa.